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Topic: The Thirteen Tribes (Read 649 times)

When it comes to Werewolf, the most overreaching social unit is the tribe. The tribe's bonds are familial and ideological, and inspire loyalty — and schisms. Each one has a very different hierarchy, from the formal nobility of the Silver Fangs to the ever-shifting meritocracy of the Glass Walkers. A tribe's ideology has a great impact on those septs where the tribe is strong. Young cliath serve their pack first and their sept second, but when a tribe has a pressing issue that only werewolves of that tribe can truly understand, an elder may call upon the tribe’s cliath to aid him, possibly with the help of their packs. Some tribes place extra pressure on the need to obey; all offer Renown for those loyal scions who aid them. A Garou is not bound to join the tribe of their ancestry; a cub, for example, may not meet the standards expected of a tribe and is therefore unacceptable as a member. The personal philosophies of an individual Garou may also drive them to seek another tribe that meshes better with their views. Some tribes, such as the Black Furies and Children of Gaia, specialize in taking in cubs who were rejected by their ancestral tribes. In order to become a full-fledged member of any tribe, ancestral or not, a Garou must pass a Rite of Passage, in which the totem of the tribe accepts them; only then are they viewed as a true tribe member and adult Garou.

Camps.

Every tribe also includes smaller societies, groups of werewolves who share a common purpose but who don’t necessarily belong to the same pack. These groups are known as camps. A Glass Walker may find herself drawn to the esoteric goals of the Mechanical Awakening, or the rough pragmatism of Dies Ultimae. Camps are usually loosely connected; even those packs whose members are all of one tribe rarely are all of the same camp as well.

Black Furies.

"You dare condemn us for standing as a sisterhood?For choosing to help women first?Yes, women shouldn’t need our help.Gaia shouldn’t need Her Furies.But they do.Now stand the hell aside before I show you real pain."

The Black Furies are the living incarnation of a woman’s anger. They are the daughters of Luna-as-Artemis, the Huntress of the Moon. Their legends trace their origins back to Greece and Asia Minor, where they were appointed defenders of the Wyld. Wherever there are tales of women who take up arms for honor, vengeance or blood ties, the spirit of the Fury dwells. The Furies are almost exclusively female. Any human or wolf cub of a Fury who breeds true is sent to another tribe for adoption; Pegasus, their tribal totem, will not accept male Garou. The sole exception is the male metis: Pegasus accepts these disfigured sons, perhaps out of mercy, perhaps out of a desire to ensure the Black Furies remember their own misdeeds. To make up for these losses of potential tribemates, the Furies actively recruit disaffected and angry female Garou who chafe under another tribe’s banner. The tribe holds that women are worthy of respect, honor, sometimes even veneration. Though no Black Fury will suffer the hand of a man acting as master or tyrant, the tribe isn’t united by active misandry. Certainly some Furies will never forget or forgive. But others are willing to accept men as partners, helpmates, lovers, equals — but nothing more than equals. Lupus Furies have less of an immediate connection to the hardships of human women, as female wolves have no real discrimination to bear, but they are deeply tied to the Wyld and learn great empathy for their human and homid sisters.

Appearance: Furies with strong Pure Breed have particularly dark fur in Crinos, Hispo, and Lupus, often with white, gray, or silver highlights. Pure Breed is rarer among Fury metis, as their fathers are inevitably of other tribes.Character Creation: Black Furies have a proud martial tradition, and encourage training in Brawl or Melee. Survival, Occult, and Rituals are also common among those entrusted with the Wyld places.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Breath of the Wyld, Man’s Skin, Heightened Senses, Sense Wyrm, Wyld Resurgence.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Bone Gnawers: They defend people who need them, same as we do. Shame they often aren’t as courageous about it.Children of Gaia: Trustworthy. There’s a reason males of our blood usually go to Unicorn when Pegasus won’t have them.Fianna: It’s good to have allies who take the joy of life as seriously as the necessity of war. Pity they favor the former a little too much….Get of Fenris: I can’t stand anyone who thinks being stronger means being better.Glass Walkers: They’re examples of both why it’s important to have friends in the Scabs and why we can’t trust anyone else with the Wyld places.Red Talons: I understand their anger, but they have too much of it. A rabid wolf is a danger to her own pack.Shadow Lords: If you have anything a Shadow Lord wants, keep it a secret. They don’t want our burden, of course — but keep quiet about the grottos hidden around them.Silent Striders: They go almost everywhere and see almost everything. It’s easy to dismiss a wolf without a territory, but listen to them.Silver Fangs: A dying tree with many rotten branches. A few are still strong and healthy, but those last are hard to find… Stargazers: Navel-gazing at this late hour might find the answers we’re looking for, but what if it doesn’t?Uktena: Like us, they know wisdom is found in many lands and many hearts. But we know better than to go delving in the darkest places…Wendigo: We can understand what it’s like to suffer and to have Kin who suffer. Pity they see us as part of the problem, too.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Amazons of Diana: The Amazons of Diana rarely think or refer to themselves as a formal kuklos. Instead, the term refers to any Black Fury who is primarily concerned with proving her prowess in battle. Given a choice between enacting justice on a rapist or fighting some Wyrm-creature in glorious combat, Amazons will take the open battle every time. Although more conservative members of the tribe look down on them, Amazons are valiant and forthright. They are the first to defend the Furies’ honor against outsiders, and are the tribe’s vanguard in assaults against Wyrm holdings.

Bacchantes (or Maenads): A Bacchante fulfills her destiny by destroying the holdings and livelihoods of the worst violators of Gaia’s laws: rapists, serial murderers, matricides, and vast polluters. She brings personal, violent punishment to the criminals she discovers. These assaults are, hidden from the eyes of humanity, and the large-scale ones are frequently mistaken for natural disasters. While the Bacchantes (sometimes called Maenads) stand beside the rest of their tribe when a Nexus Crawler or vampire pack endangers a caern, they prefer to come down like a hammer from orbit on the planners and perpetrators of Wyrm-like crimes.

Freebooters: The Freebooters’ mission is to find new Wyld places that can be consecrated to Gaia and made into caerns. The kuklos is shrinking because there are so few Wyld places in the world. A fraction of Freebooters believe they need to find a new body for Gaia elsewhere in the Umbra, somewhere the Wyrm has not yet found. The remaining members still dedicate themselves to finding hidden Wyld places in which to build caerns or once-holy places that they can reconsecrate to the Mother Goddess.

Moon Daughters: The Moon-Daughters’ rituals and doctrine echo modern New Age paganism, and they push themselves to keep Gaia’s spirit alive through change, embodying the force of the Wyld as best they can. Members effortlessly adapt the trappings of the modern world to fit their magics — inscriptions once traced on rock were sketched with a quill pen in the 1700s, and might be drawn on a laptop computer screen today.

Order of Our Merciful Mother: When the Catholic Church spread throughout Europe in the wake of the Roman Empire, the Order chose not to fight this patriarchal tool directly, but rather to infiltrate and subvert it. The Order works to reform human society using that society’s tools — politics, the arts, and religion. Garou sometimes join a human religious order when they join this kuklos. This can cause internal conflict for the Garou, who must juggle serving God and the church they join while upholding their primary responsibility to Gaia.Avenging Mother (sub-faction): The Merciful Mother has gained a measure of trust within the Silver Fangs, who view that kuklos as a valuable conduit to mortal society. Tthe Avenging Mother (a small sub-faction of the Order) exploits that trust, spying on the Fangs’ intra-tribal weaknesses in hopes of bringing down the predominantly patriarchal tribe’s stranglehold on the Nation’s powerbase.

The Sisterhood: The Sisterhood manages networks of contacts and information that rival those of the Gnawers or Walkers. Many also work as suppliers, able to obtain anything from guns and ammo to giants’ blood — for the right price. The Sisterhood came about during the Inquisition, when they spirited Garou, Kinfolk, and wise women out of the path of the Church and to safety. As they traveled, they discovered that the information they brought with them was as valuable to allied septs as another set of claws and teeth. They do less traveling now, but their information and item brokerage is an important tribal asset.

The Temple of Artemis: As the most conservative Fury kuklos, members of the Temple are firm allies of the Bacchantes, and serve as the wisdom to that group’s Rage. They believe that the Furies must work as a cohesive whole and allow each of the other tribes to work on its own as well. To the Temple, cross-tribe packs are a travesty and violate Gaia’s apparent intentions in separating the Garou Nation into different tribes.

Bone Gnawers

"You see this shit?This is where the war’s always been at its worst.This is where the Wyrm kills and twists and fucks up people because it knows nobody cares.We’re the bastards who’ve been on this battlefield forever.Remember that."

Many disdain the Bone Gnawers as living proof of how far the Garou have fallen from grace. Ragged and luckless, hunting territories no other tribe wants and breeding with Kin no other tribe claims, the Children of Rat come across as mongrel scavengers taking whatever castoffs they can. The Bone Gnawers see it differently. They’re the most populous tribe in the Garou Nation. They’re not the picture of failure — they’re the picture of success, because they’re playing the game of survival. The tribe’s actual origins likely lie somewhere in or across a band of land that stretches from Northern Africa to India, but the Gnawers stopped keeping track a long time ago. They spread out to follow humanity, and always attached themselves to the wretched and downtrodden. Their oral history is full of revolutionary stories of the oppressed defying and overthrowing their oppressors. Bone Gnawer folk heroes are creatures of the Robin Hood and John Henry mold — if somewhat more bestially violent when dealing out retribution and social justice. The tribe’s mongrel reputation is bolstered by their seemingly haphazard traditions. Their septs are usually surprisingly democratic. Their fetishes and rites are scavenged from Gaia-knowswhere. They propitiate bizarre totems like modern urban legends or strange pop-culture zeitgeists. They strike odd alliances with other supernaturals lurking in the lower strata of human society, maybe even Leeches or wererats, if the stories are true. They thrive in cities, occupy decaying suburban wastelands, even prosper in run-down rural backwaters. The Bone Gnawer creed is “Whatever works.” But it does work, or at least it has so far. The Children of Rat have access to all manner of interesting secrets that come from listening to people other Garou disdain as part of the herd. They’ve mastered a variety of vicious guerilla tactics suited to their hazardous environments. They know where to find food, or even how to conjure it out of trash. The Gnawers’ major weakness is that the other tribes tend to keep them at a distance, so they have fewer true allies. But even this weakness has contributed to their strength of selfreliance, out of necessity.

Appearance: Bone Gnawers' wolf appearance is ragged, often mismatched or particolored; some can be mistaken for dogs at a distance, though even a Gnawer who looks something like a yellow dingo is clearly an animal that was never tame. Their blessings as Garou make them surprisingly healthy in comparison to impoverished humans: most have strong (if crooked) teeth and wiry muscle under the dirt.Character Creation: Bone Gnawers have a penchant for Traits that represent adaptability, such as Stamina, Wits, and Manipulation, and Abilities such as Survival. Ancestors and Pure Breed are restricted Backgrounds; Resources are discouraged.Initial Willpower: 4.Beginning Gifts: Cooking, Desperate Strength, Resist Toxin, Scent of Sweet Honey, Trash is Treasure.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: Shit yeah, fight the power. Help people! Oh wait, you’re just gonna help half of them? Well, I guess it’s something.Children of Gaia: Some of ’em like to talk about dreams and better times and compassion and all that bullshit and some of them get down in the trenches with us. Guess which ones are worth anything?Fianna: You must have it pretty good if you can even pretend that life’s a party.Get of Fenris: First thing you do is find a reason to cut one. Then you try to survive him kicking your ass. Sure, your ass will be kicked, but he’ll treat you better from then on if he thinks you’re not a coward.Glass Walkers: These guys get cities, same as we do. They just deal with the comfy upper-crust side where you always know where your next meal’s coming from. Who can blame ’em?Red Talons: Holy shit. You’ve never met a human you liked? That fucking scares me, and not for the reasons you think it should.Shadow Lords: Fighting dirty? Yeah, awesome, about time. Catching other tribes in the blast radius? Uh-huh, same shit, different day.Silent Striders: Freaks. How do you spend so much time outside of any one territory and wind up knowing so much? Ain’t right.Silver Fangs: These bastards have been using us as an object lesson since there were sixteen tribes. Well, who’s the healthy ones now, huh?Stargazers: I don’t even know what in the fuck you’re talking about. Can you put that in “here and now” language?Uktena: Pretty savvy folks, all taking whatever they need from wherever they can. Wouldn’t be surprised if their ethics work the same way.Wendigo: You’ve had a fucking man-eater for your totem since the Impergium and you haven’t fallen to the Wyrm yet? Cold and hard as ice, man.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Deserters: Surrounded by poverty, despair, and a dying planet, Deserters fled into the Umbra, eventually becoming experts at navigating the spirit world. Their elders led great quests for forgotten and mystical realms, seeking a utopia that could hide them from the coming Apocalypse. The Deserters still search for pathways to undiscovered worlds, both in the Penumbra and the physical realm. They undertake expeditions deep into the spirit world, sometimes followed by packs of enthusiastic and gullible Garou.

Frankweilers: Frankweilers protect culture and its availability to the common man. Many are esteemed as scholars and educators, or great storytellers. The camp lays claim to places where the “common man” can find art and education: galleries, libraries, museums, theaters, etc. Others reach out to communities, watching over people instead of places. They may volunteer to teach, work in needle exchange programs, or even share their legal or medical skills. Since the Wyrm often exploits the ignorant, suffering, starving, or desperate, the Frankweilers help fight it through prevention, protection, and education.

Maneaters: Originally a cannibal cult within the Gnawer tribe, most of this camp’s “converts” were Garou who had succumbed to frenzy too often. The Bone Gnawers have diligently hunted any possible inter-sept organization of this hidden society, killing most of their anthropophagous brethren. Still, the Maneaters endure by being craftier and more secretive. Few are foolish enough to join a sept, although any major city may harbor one or two of them among the local rabble.

Hillfolk: Rather than endure scorn and poverty in the big city, Hillfolk have learned to survive in the rural wild. The densest concentration of this camp is found in the Appalachians. Hillfolk families are even more extensive and territorial than their urban kin. They shun modern technology and mainstream education, both of which they see as an attempt to eradicate of their own unique culture.

The Hood: The Hood has three primary goals: robbing from the rich, giving to the poor, and protecting the innocent of the city. The camp has its own version of tough love, never giving a second chance to those who try to exploit their help or take it for granted. They’re not out to save everyone — just those who are actually worth saving. Some claim that Robin Hood himself belonged to their camp while others admit “rob from the rich and give to the poor” is just dialogue they ripped off from old movies. Nonetheless, the ideal endures.

Rat Finks: Rat Finks trade in information. They gather secrets both directly and through their Kinfolk, who often work as janitors, clerks, garbage collectors, busboys, etc. Some camp members infiltrate companies and corporations known for exploitation or environmental devastation, where they wait and watch, gathering enough information to them down from the inside. Finks are famous for their exotic communication networks: drop points, one-word phone calls, cryptic faxes, secret codes, even notes pinned to children’s jackets. Other supernatural creatures sometimes interact with the camp as well: Nosferatu vampires, Ratkin spies, and even Corax messengers.

Road Warders: You’ll find Road Warders taking long bus routes, riding the rails, or languishing deep in the holds of tramp steamers; hitchhiking is an art to them. For Warders, the journey is always paramount, and they refuse to tie themselves down to jobs as messengers, couriers, or diplomats. If they see a fellow traveler in trouble, they make it their business to get involved. When they finally make it to a tribal moot, this Code of the Road earns them Honor, and their stories serve as a reminder that the world is much larger than the bawns of its caerns.

The Swarm: The Swarm serves as Rat’s teeth in the war against the Wyrm, specializing in dirty fighting and underhanded strategy. Tribal elders call upon the Swarm when the politics of compromise prove useless, although they publicly disavow the camp’s activities. Some of the Rat God’s most fervent warriors only associate with the Swarm camp in secret, spending most of their time as upstanding citizens in a Garou caern.

Children of Gaia

"We're Garou.We draw out the toxins from our Mother's blood,cut away Her cancers,slay the parasites feeding on Her flesh.But once the surgery's done,you have to bind the wounds back up, too."

The Children of Gaia seem to be a study in contradiction. They are Gaia’s warriors, yet they want nothing more than peace. No Garou work harder and plead more humbly for cooperation between the tribes than they do. None grieve more when forced to shed the blood of a fellow werewolf. More than any other tribe, they value compassion for all Gaia’s children, even those that hold them in contempt. Many Garou mistake this compassion for weakness, — only to discover that the Children’s hatred of war doesn’t preclude the ability and will to fight — and fight well. The tribe has its origins in the days of the Impergium, when they protested the practice of culling humans and fighting over territory. When the Garou Nation came to an accord and agreed to end the Impergium, the peacemakers who had led the effort formalized a pact with Unicorn and became the Children of Gaia. They are the only tribe born from an act of peace, and they take great pride in of this origin. The Children of Gaia’s primary purpose is that of all Garou — fight the Wyrm, wherever it breeds and wherever it dwells. But their chosen secondary purpose is to mediate disputes and alliances among septs and packs, strengthening the Nation as a whole. It’s a difficult job, made more difficult by the contempt they face from many more martial tribes. But as they argue, it’s critical.

Appearance: Strong Children of Gaia Pure Breed usually manifests as a white dappling on a gray or brown coat. The most renowned Children have a calm and serene bearing that can be intimidating in its own right.Character Creation: Many Children of Gaia stress Social Traits at least a little, in order to make themselves heard. They don’t neglect their combat skills, but Abilities such as Empathy, Leadership, Streetwise, Performance and Etiquette are all valued.Initial Willpower: 4.Beginning Gifts: Brother’s Scent, Jam Weapon, Mercy, Mother’s Touch, Resist Pain.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: They have such great reserves of wisdom about the world, but they guard them so jealously.Bone Gnawers: They care more than they let on, but it still breaks your heart to see them turn their backs on the rest of us in the name of survival.Fianna: There aren’t many who mourn their losses more keenly, or prize their victories more joyously.Get of Fenris: You can admire their bravery and strength, but at the end of the day, this war is something that we abhor and that they seem to cherish. It’s horrifying.Glass Walkers: They can be relied on to listen to reason, even if their logic takes them places maybe no Garou was ever meant to go.Red Talons: I can’t help but wonder what they might have been, if things had turned out differently. Sometimes you can almost see it. Almost.Shadow Lords: Hard to tell what they love best: their methods, their ambitions, or their successes.Silent Striders: They may seem disaffected, but they have such deeply wounded hearts. It’s not good for any wolf to walk alone.Silver Fangs: Of all the failures we’ve endured, the Silver Fangs’ failure to keep the Nation unified has perhaps hurt all of us the most.Stargazers: They understand harmony so well, they’re almost our closest brothers — but how can you describe love and compassion as shackles, even in jest?Uktena: I wish they trusted us more. I wish they trusted anyone more. They’re more alone than they let on.Wendigo: They seem to expect the world to end in ice. If it does, they’ll be well-suited for it — but it doesn’t have to.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Aethera Inamorata: A sometimes-controversial camp dedicated to healing through sex and physical love, they believe that Garou- Garou pairings are not a breach of the Litany (and are, in fact, a valuable tool towards unity) so long as they do not produce children. They monitor Kinfolk pregnancies to help the families prepare for the possibility of a Garou child, and facilitate intermarriage between Kinfolk of different tribes, for the sake of building unity and inter-tribal trust. This practice, sadly, garners them the animosity of tribes who prize their pure lineages.

Angels in the Garden: For the Angels, immunizing the youngest human generation against the Defiler Wyrm is of paramount importance. They maintain an underground network among their Kin to protect children from abusers, even if it means kidnapping and finding new homes for the endangered youth. They also strive to seed children’s books, video games, and other media with Gaian ideals, in hopes of turning youngsters against the Wyrm.

The Anointed Ones: The Anointed Ones renounce violence. They believe that it is impossible to bring about peace through war, and seek to share that message with those who are willing to hear it. The camp focuses its attention on using (and teaching) Gifts and rites which gentle their enemies, rather than harm them, and helping other Garou deal with their Rage.

Bringers of Eternal Peace: The Bringers are a perverted camp of former Children of Gaia who believe that the only way to bring peace to the world is to destroy all who dwell upon it. While members of this camp have not (yet) walked the Spiral, their ideals — perfect peace through annihilation — are just a step away from those of the Dancers.

Dementer's Daughters: Demeter’s Daughters work to introduce humans to the natural world so that they can love, honor, and respect it as they grow. They make environmental issues more palatable to businesses by showing the fiscal benefits of producing environmentally sound products, while pushing government and city planners to incorporate and protect natural spaces within urban environments. Only by encouraging humanity to love the Wyld do the Daughters believe they have any hope of protecting mankind from the Wyrm.

Imminent Strike: Imminent Strike trains its members constantly in preparation for the Final Battle. The Apocalypse is upon us, and this camp believes that the only hope for Gaia’s warriors to win the Final Strike is to focus entirely on the task ahead. They shun those of the Nation who are obsessed with their own agendas; if that means cutting ties with other tribes, so be it.

The One Tree: The One Tree sees itself as Gaia’s white blood cells. They are killers — both front-line warriors and stealthy assassins. That said, they do not kill out of Rage, passion, hate, malice, or pride, and they do not accept members who seek to join the camp with those motivations. They kill because it is what Gaia has made them to do; they are a channel through which Gaia may strike at her foes.

The Patient Deed: The Patient Deed works to build unity across tribal boundaries. Historically, Patient Deed members reached out to the Uktena and Wendigo in America’s Old West and sought to mend fences between Europeans and colonized nations. They believe that the Nation does not have a single Garou to lose, and that only through welcoming and understanding other tribes’ values and priorities can the Garou truly be united.

Seekers of the Lost Tribes: Members of this Camp believe that the Nation’s only hope is the recovery and reintroduction of the Lost Tribes back into the Garou Nation. By researching sightings of “ghost wolves” that match descriptions of Croatan, or investigating bloodlines of humans related to ancient Bunyip lineages, the Seekers hope to rebuild those tribes. As well, they serve as envoys to the Lost Tribes’ totems and their broods. More controversial is their goal of capturing and re-educating Black Spiral cubs and ronin, in hopes of rebuilding a Gaian version of the fallen White Howler tribe.

Servant's of Unicorn: Dedicated to creating peace among the tribes through inter-tribal missions and by encouraging multi-tribe packs and septs, Seekers work to find messages of unity (no matter how deeply hidden) in each tribe’s core doctrine. They then use those threads of commonality to weave the tribes closer together rather than attempting to change others’ basic beliefs. Crest of the Horn (sub-faction): This sub-faction operates within the Servants of Unicorn. Members of the Crest pay close attention to points of contention between the tribes, hoping to exploit them in order to wrench power from the Silver Fangs and replace the ruling tribe with a Garou Parliament.

Fianna

"The blood of heroes is on fire within us!The ghosts of our ancestors swell with pride to see us stand strong and true!The Wyrm itself trembles when we howl!AAAAUURROOOOO!"

Grief and joy, love and war, life and death — life is a series of contradictions, and the Fianna embrace them all. The Tribe of Stag are passionate Garou who exult in the pleasures of the flesh as well as the more abstract delights of a song well-sung or a battle well-fought. Their philosophy is far from a shallow “live in the now” concept, though. The Fianna are prominent lorekeepers and bards, fascinated with the history of all tribes as well as their own. Their Galliards have a particular place of honor within the tribe, but every auspice is expected to learn lessons from the past. The Fianna trace their origins back to Western Europe, where they had a particular fondness for the Celtic peoples. They stress this cultural identity perhaps more than most other tribes do; members aren’t as prone to marry outside Celtic descended bloodlines, and they prefer to adorn their weapons and fetishes with knotwork representative of “the old days.” They endure plenty of old rivalries with other European Garou that challenged their borders, as well as the Uktena and Wendigo, who were their enemies during the European migration to the Americas. The Fianna try to be generous and forgiving where these rivalries are concerned, remembering but not making too much of it — an attitude their rivals rarely share.

Appearance: Fianna Pure Breed manifests itself as shining red or black fur, and often surprisingly large Lupus form. Fianna often use Gifts to make their eyes glow green, and teach their cubs to howl with beautiful eloquence.Character Creation: The Fianna are a social tribe, and strong Social Traits are common among them. They encourage most members to at least dabble in Performance.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Faerie Light, Hare’s Leap, Persuasion, Resist Toxin, Two Tongues.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: Best take them seriously, even the ones who see only half the picture. They’ll open a hole in you if they think you’re being patronizing.Bone Gnawers: They know a lot about loyalty and friendship, especially in hard times. Good friends to have if you can earn their respect.Children of Gaia: Good folks to have at any moot, even if it takes more effort to howl ‘em into a proper battle fury when the need’s there.Get of Fenris: Berserks and murderers, addicted to the taste of blood. There’s the remnants of a tribe we could’ve called friends somewhere in there, but it was buried millennia ago.Glass Walkers: Strange sense of beauty they’ve got, picking a stinking city over a stretch of cool wood. Probably got spiders a-spinning behind their eyeballs.Red Talons: Strong and primal and all those things we’d adore if weren’t for the damned hatred of every person we love.Shadow Lords: Smart and vicious and effective, but anyone who doesn’t respect his king on principle needs to be watched.Silent Striders: Give me the chills, they do. You think you’re spinning a truly tragic tale, and they just look back at you as if to say “Is that it?”Silver Fangs: We owe them our loyalty, and it’s a hard debt to pay sometimes.Stargazers: We’re Garou. We need to burn out, not wither away!Uktena: Shadow Lords for politics, Uktena for spirits and the Umbra — all this secret brokering makes me a little nervous.Wendigo: Not all of our songs end well. The lay of us and the Wendigo isn’t over yet, but it’s been a tragic mess forever and might not get better in time.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Brotherhood of Herne: This camp acts as a rapid reaction force, forming strike teams to moon-bridge into caerns that are under attack by the Wyrm, and defending places that might fall without their aid. The Brotherhood has a reputation for factionalism beyond their core stated purpose, particularly as an Englishonly camp. Many (including the Grandchildren of Fionn) believed that the camp’s primary purpose was extending the British Empire’s policy of imperialism into the tribe. However, when a Frenchwoman recently took over leadership of the camp and refocused its attention on guerilla warfare, many found their complaints of Irish oppression undermined.

Children of Dire: Made up predominantly of lupus Garou, this camp watches for emanations of Wyrm-forces by their effect on the Wyld. By noting changes in the flow of predator and prey and the growth or decline of flora in Wyld locations, they can detect (and root out) Wyrm-influence before it grows strong. Like many lupus groups, their numbers are dwindling; few homid (and no metis) are deemed worthy of running with Dire Wolf long enough to gain membership. The camp itself is often seen with suspicion by outsiders because they rarely stay attached to one caern for any length of time.

Grandchildren of Fionn: Many young Fianna see the Grandchildren of Fionn — dedicated to the combat ideals of their ancestor, Fionn mac Cumhail — as the perfect opportunity to prove themselves to the rest of the tribe and the Nation. They consider themselves to be Stag’s chosen heroes, and are renowned for their bravery, traveling to wherever the best fights are: South America, the Middle East, northern Africa, and wherever the Wyrm rears its ugly head.

Mother's Fundamentalists: Many Fianna consider the Fundies to be the tribe’s “dirty little secret.” Their numbers swell whenever there’s a brief reprieve from the Wyrm’s onslaught — a breather that allows the hottest heads of the Fianna tribe to turn on one another (and their respective Kinfolk) rather than having to focus their full attention on the true war. The Fundies preach a return to Impergium practices: culling the growth of humanity (usually beginning with the Kinfolk of their political enemies). Their name has changed throughout the camp’s history, but regardless of what they call themselves, the Fundies thrive on conflict even with other Fianna, mirroring the mundane politics that tear the people of their homeland apart.

Songkeepers: Songkeepers are the Galliards’ Galliards, dedicated to keeping alive the history of not just Stag’s Chosen, but the whole of the Garou Nation. They travel the world, learning new and old songs from other tribes. They aren’t all Galliards, though. Songkeeper Theurges try to keep alive all the rites of the Garou, Philodox learn and preserve the wisdom of other tribes, and even some Ragabash in the camp keep links with the other tribes and share ways to keep the Nation on its toes. Most martially-minded Fianna find other camps, but historically there have been a few Songkeeper Ahroun who have dedicated themselves to discovering and learning lost fighting forms, tactics, and weapon styles from throughout the Nation.

Tuatha De Fionn: While outsiders may link all Fianna to faeries, the Tuatha de Fionn is the camp most likely to deal with them. New Tuatha are recruited by current members who find something in them — faerie blood or madness — which they believe will allow the new recruit to deal with the Fair Folk on something like equal terms. After a long period of tutelage, they’re taken to meet the Fae, and hopefully to join the Tuatha de Fionn as full members. The Children of Fionn not only parlay with faeries on behalf of the Garou Nation, but learn from them about many of their mutual enemies who — while not necessarily Wyrm-spawn — are likely to interfere with the Nation.

Whispering Rovers: These Fianna claim no land as their own and travel the world with their kin in bands, depending greatly on one another for survival. Unlike most Fianna, who love their hearth and home, these Garou are forever mobile, never staying in one place for long. They act as the eyes and ears of the clan, with the Righ of each band reporting in to the Ard Righ of the tribe with anything they notice on their travels that may lead to trouble for the Fianna or the Nation as a whole. Because of their nomadic nature, the Rovers are sought when knowledge of a certain location is needed by other Fianna or even other tribes. They are also employed as scouts in Fianna war parties due to their innate understanding of both woodland and urban environments.

Get of Fenris

"Pain is my lover.Death is my sister.Gaia is my Mother, and Great Fenris is my Father.You have NOTHING for me to fear!"

Even among a race of warriors, the Get of Fenris are the most warlike. The Fenrir, as they’re also known, value a glorious death over a peaceful old age. They wear their scars with pride, howl the glory of their victories, and revel in the fear that they spread among the minions of the Wyrm. To the Get, compassion is a luxury, not a virtue — the greatest virtues are valor and strength. The Fenrir have their origins in Europe, where they once called Germanic tribes and Nordic raiders Kin. Yet even the most brutal and violent sagas of the regions pale before the lore of the Get. Their Galliards (or skalds) joyously recount grim tales of bloody death against impossible odds, of the eternal glory to be found on the battlefield. They have told stories of Ragnarok, of the Apocalypse, for millennia — and they are ready for it. Blood alone doesn’t make a Get of Fenris. A cub could have the finest Pure Breed, but if he can’t make it through the bloody tribal Rite of Passage, he’s of no use to the Fenrir. Some cubs don’t even survive that first test. Harsh as it is, the Rite of Passage reflects the grim and fatalistic nature of life among the Get. The battles against the Wyrm will be no gentler,— and the Fenrir never run from battle. Every child of Great Fenris, no matter his or her auspice, must be ready to die gloriously for the Mother. This creed often seems contradictory to lupus cubs, who are used to survival as the first and most pressing mandate. Luckily, enough wolf-born find their Rage that the Get haven’t fallen too far behind in their ratio of homid-to-lupus members.

Appearance: Strong Fenrir blood manifests as huge gray wolf forms with broad shoulders and vicious jaws. There are precious few Get whose hides aren’t marked with scars and tattoos. Some even brand their fur or ceremonially carve runes into their flesh.Character Creation: The Fenrir naturally stress combat and survival Traits. They almost never purchase Contacts: they want true friends, not associates.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Lightning Reflexes, Master of Fire, Razor Claws, Resist Pain, Visage of Fenris.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: A warrior is defined by fang and claw and klaive, not by a womb. You want respect? Earn it.Bone Gnawers: You can run at my back if you’re too afraid to take the lead. But if you abandon me, I’ll carve you apart like the dog you pretend to be.Children of Gaia: You think you were given these teeth, these claws, so you could sit about and talk of dreams of peace? Fight, you sheepfuckers!Fianna: Your ancestors were almost as strong as ours, and you’re almost as strong as we are. What? It’s a compliment.Glass Walkers: The old ways are hard and painful and merciless. Not surprising that cowards will find any excuse to disdain them.Red Talons: I admire a wolf who picks a war because he feels it must be fought, not because he thinks he can win.Shadow Lords: Their schemes against the other tribes are treacherous, which is why they are not friends. Their schemes against the Wyrm are brilliant, which is why we haven’t cut them down.Silent Striders: They remind me of the ravens: keen-eyed and clever, but better at scouting than fighting.Silver Fangs: Speak with the voice of a true king, and we’ll follow. You’re too weak to be worth it any other way.Stargazers: You want to master your Rage by avoiding battle? Why not master fire by eating raw meat all your life while you’re at it?Uktena: Our ancestors found dark things in their lands when we were at war. Was binding these things the only way to stop them — or a way to keep them in reserve?Wendigo: You still want to fight us over the deeds of our ancestors? There are more productive ways to commit suicide.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

The Fangs of Garm: Of all the Get camps, the Fangs are the most suited for interaction with the rest of tribes of the Nation, and with outside society. They think in the long-term, believing in fighting the Wyrm by preventing it from sinking its roots into humanity. They organize neighborhood watches, teach self-defense and crime prevention, and, on the lupus side of the War, mount educational campaigns for humans about the value of the wolf and other natural predators in the wildlands. Other Get may see them as weak, but the Fangs believe themselves to be the Fenrir of the future.

The Glorious Fist of Wotan: A radical group that shares more beliefs with the Red Talons than with most members of their own tribe, the Fist of Wotan see humanity as just another tool of the Wyrm — a fetid breeding ground for the Wyrm’s agents and influence. As a camp of predominantly lupus Garou, they see the Nation’s protection of the human race as weak at best and self-defeating at worst. They are fairly secretive by nature; most homid Fenrir have no tolerance for the Fist’s agenda. But if a given Get’s plans include coincidentally destroying as many humans as possible while still accomplishing other goals, there’s a good chance they may belong to this camp.

The Hand of Tyr: The Hand do not believe in surrender, and are utterly dedicated to their task. There are precious few members in this camp, and they are all executioners: hunters who seek out and destroy the enemies of Gaia. They focus on the horrible results of the Wyrm’s corruption of humanity: rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and terrorists. Because they target the symptoms rather than the core cause of this corruption, other Fenrir sometimes claim the Hand is remiss in its true duty to the tribe. Such claims, however, are usually made where the Hand cannot hear them.

Loki's Smile: This camp seeks to topple the Silver Fangs’ leadership of the Nation because they believe themselves more worthy of ruling the Nation in the Fangs’ place. The camp only admits those who have somehow crossed current Get leaders in trying to challenge the Fangs’ leadership, but they will work with almost anyone. They have even allowed metis to join and have used Wyrm minions to further their goals. They also seek to embarrass Fang and Get leaders by finding their weaknesses or shameful secrets and exploiting them.

Mjolnir's Thunder: This ancient camp consists of those who have lost (or cut) all ties with the world around them and dedicated themselves solely to destroying the Wyrm. They care for nothing else: not humans or wolves, spirits, the Veil, or even Garou society as a whole. They are the monsters that other tribes sometimes picture all Fenrir to be, having traded all shreds of compassion, empathy, and common sense for their single-minded, sociopathic dedication to the Wyrm’s demise.

The Swords of Heimdall: Although the rest of the tribe would argue, the Swords believe themselves to be the one true race of Gaia. They see wolves (even lupus and their Kinfolk) as nothing but dumb animals, and feel non-Get-Kin humans (especially those who are not Caucasian and male) are useful only for their servitude. They seek to “cleanse” the world of non-European Garou, to silence the voices of women of the Nation, and to crush any tribe that does not recognize the Fenrir as the proper leaders of the Garou Nation. Even within the Get, Swords are generally seen as extremists, at best.

The Valkyria of Freya: Get philosophy dictates that a warrior is exactly as cunning, strong, wise, or honorable as he (or she) has shown; no more, and no less. However, even within the tribe, some have embraced outsider attitudes, claiming female Get are not capable of the same prowess and bravery as their male counterparts. The Valkyria, an all-female camp dedicated to glorious battle, prove otherwise. Some see them as unnecessary, but the Valkyria say until there is no Jarl who refuses female Modi the chance to fill their rightful role, the camp will continue.

Ymir's Sweat: More of a bloodline than a camp, the members of Ymir’s Sweat supposedly owe their heritage to Get who interbred with Wendigo and Uktena kin after the earliest Scandinavians arrived in the New World. They do not commonly make themselves (or their lineage) known, as both the Fenrir and Wendigo have been known to look unkindly upon those who come from “sullied” breeding.

Glass Walkers

"Look, a city’s like any other spider web.There are sticky strands, and there are clean strands.If you stay on the clean strands you don’t get caught —and you have a good foothold in case you need to cut something loose."

The Glass Walkers are werewolves unlike any other. They have largely abandoned the ancestral ways in favor of a cutting-edge, always-adapting blend of technology and shamanism. They actually prefer urban life to the wilderness, and defend the Scabs as centers of a vibrant ecology all its own. Even if that ecology is often wounded or diseased, it can be made healthy, the Glass Walkers argue. The other tribes often call them urrah, or tainted ones — but the children of Cockroach won’t give up the advantages of modern achievement just to repair their reputation. The name “Glass Walkers” makes reference to the vast skyscrapers of the modern world. Before there were cities of glass, the tribe was known as Iron Riders, having embraced the trains and machines of the Industrial Age. In the times before then, they were the City Warders, associating themselves with urban life throughout the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance eras. And before there were even cities, they were the Warders of Men, a tribe that gathered where humans did and watched what their cousins would do next. Other tribes say this proves they have no pride in their identity — but the Glass Walkers’ identity lies in adaptation.

Appearance: Glass Walkers have the easiest time blending in with other humans, but even they have a predatory presence that bleeds through from time to time. They have no Pure Breed, and their wolf forms are frequently mottled, multicolored, or brindled.Character Creation: Glass Walkers favor modern skill sets, such as Drive, Firearms, and Computer. Mentor is a discouraged Background: the Glass Walkers don’t believe much in the old ways. Their restricted Backgrounds are Pure Breed (which they stopped cultivating centuries ago) and Ancestors (their lack of interest in the past has eroded their spiritual ties to its wisdom). Most have at least a dot or two of Resources.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Control Simple Machine, Diagnostics, Persuasion, Plug and Play, Trick Shot.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: We’re all for helping you with the troubles in the human world. But you have to come out of the Wyld places and focus on human society to make lasting progress.Bone Gnawers: It’s hard to believe they’re down in the gutters by choice. They’re either very brave, or completely crazy. Probably some of each.Children of Gaia: You have to respect the willpower it takes for a Garou to try for compassion instead of Rage. It’s like quitting smoking every day of your life.Fianna: Usually pretty reliable, even if they lean on storyteller’s logic more than the real thing.Get of Fenris: I guess we need all the weapons of mass destruction we can get, but I’d honestly prefer not to have a hair-trigger on a nuke.Red Talons: It’s not my damn fault you didn’t adapt, and I’m not going to let you wreck my home and murder my Kin just to cope.Shadow Lords: They’ve got their heads in the right place when it comes to pragmatic solutions. I don’t know about their hearts, mind.Silent Striders: If it’s information someone put into a computer, you don’t need a Strider for it. But they’re good at finding the other stuff.Silver Fangs: Are we seriously still pretending that a hereditary monarchy has some sort of intrinsically superior value? Blood will get you only so far.Stargazers: I don’t know if you guys noticed, but the war’s going on in the material world right now.Uktena: They study all kinds of things we barely even know about. That’s respectable, and also enough to give me the cold sweats.Wendigo: I always feel they’re looking at me like they’re imagining my head on a pike. Makes it hard to extend the olive branch, you know?

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

City Farmers: Dedicated to bringing the Wyld into urban environments, the City Farmers are capable of creating veritable jungles on rooftops, in abandoned lots, and within city parks and green spaces. They believe that not only does city gardening (including growth in underground, indoor, or “found” niches like flower beds) integrate city populations with the power of the Wyld in ways many would not otherwise experience, but that properly done, it can halt urban expansion into what little wilderness still remains pure.

Corporate Wolves: This camp is a vast network of Glass Walkers devoted to using big business as a tool to defeating the Wyrm. As a highly political organization, members of this camp maintain a strong hierarchy (easily demonstrated through flow charts and departmental trees) and utilize local, national, and multi-national corporations as both carrot and stick when encouraging their desired behavior from human society. Corporate Wolves have frequently been the dominant camp in the tribe from the mid-1970s onward. An uptake in technology brought the Random Interrupts into greater power, but the Corporate Wolves have rallied of late, gaining strength as the corporation as a concept exerts more control over the world.

Cyber Dogs: Founded by some of the most brilliant Garou the Nation have ever known, the Cyber Dogs sought to create a perfectly integrated balance of spirit, body, and machine: the ultimate weapon for Gaia. However, they were (for the most part) disbanded after the camp-leaders forced cybernetic body parts on lupus Garou, killing many of them. Remaining members of the camp still research cybernetics and other forms of transhumanism (despite starting with material that’s not quite “human”). They now speak of moderation, cautious progress, and (at least in public forums) the necessity of full disclosure to — and permission of — those involved.

Dies Ultimae: Half doomsday cult, half mercenary camp, Dies Ultimae offers “elite small-scale forces for short-term,delicate missions.” They use the funding gained from mercenary contracts to launch attacks on Wyrm targets, utilizing both Kinfolk and Garou paramilitary soldiers. Dies Ultimae’s leadership believes that the end times are upon the Garou Nation. They recognize themselves as,essentially, terrorists for Gaia, and use any and all tactics — guerilla warfare, assassination, arson and structural destruction, urban combat, propaganda, and more — in order to accomplish their goals.

Mechanical Awakening: Believed by many to be an urban legend, this camp reportedly attempts to rally forces for the right of the Machine to be free of its enslavement by humanity. Legends say that Mechanical Awakening is (or was) predominantly membered by lupus Garou, whose goal was to release the Incarna of The Machine from humanity’s control, and thus allow it to take its natural place in the ebb and flow of the spirit world.

Random Interrupts: Dedicated to using computers to turn the tide of the Apocalypse, the Random Interrupts include everyone from hackers to sysadmins: all who see technology as the latest (and greatest) tool of the Garou Nation. The Interrupts organize themselves loosely around projects which run the gamut from information-gathering to wholesale destruction. Although sometimes labeled “Luddites” because of their early attacks on technological targets, they believe in freeing information (and the Net) from the hold the Weaver and Wyrm have on it, and using technology and information as tools to aid the Nation in its goals.

Umbral Pilots: Umbral Pilots are united by their love of exploration and discovery, and dedicated to investigating the far fringes of the Umbra and its mysteries that lie terein. Many have created Umbral transport vehicles of bizarre design, dedicated the entire machine to themselves, and used it to explore not only the Near Realms, but the Deep Umbra as well.

Urban Primitives: Perhaps more accurately labeled a movement than a true camp, the Urban Primitives struggle to unlock the feral side of the City, diving deep into the spiritual heart of the urban environment to connect with its technological heart-beat. They build tribal societies (both in the Nation and amongst humans) and commune with technology spirits, while decorating themselves with tattoos, piercings, scars, and brandings — embracing neo-ritualism and a retro-modern symbolism that only their camp seems to truly understand.

Wise Guys: Strongly tied to the Mafia and other forms of organized crime, the Wise Guys utilize money-making endeavors of all sorts to finance and support their war against the Wyrm, and to take down Wyrm-tainted rival businesses. Until they were replaced by the Corporate Wolves in the mid-1970s, the Wise Guys dominated the power positions within the Walker tribe for several decades. Their members demonstrate ruthless ambition, inspiring fanatic devotion from their packmates, Kinfolk, and minions.

Red Talons

"I would rather die than see a world without wolves.I will gladly kill to prevent it."

The Garou sing old tales of the time when humans cowered around their campfires and feared the fangs in the night. Most howl of the Impergium as something to be regretted — but not the Red Talons. These fierce werewolves claim that the only mistake made in the Impergium was choosing to end it — that Gaia would never have become this imperiled without the pestilence that is humanity running out of control. The Red Talons refute their human side almost entirely: apart from a few metis, the tribe is entirely wolf-born. Their anger and sorrow and hatred are born from watching their wolf kin diminish and humans spread — painful emotions that define the tribe. Of course, the Talons are still werewolves, not simple wolves — they are capable of tool use, language, and all the sophisticated traditions of the Garou. much as the Talons hate humanity, they do not argue the necessity of sometimes using human things — only a foolish Talon would walk naked in a city if his hunt took him there. But they prefer to follow their wolf hearts first, and emulate humans only if absolutely necessary. Internally they organize themselves as wolves do, treating their packs as families with the alphas in the Father and Mother role. They constantly test one another’s dominance, in the name of keeping the pack healthy: the strongest must lead. They stress the tenets of the Litany that are clearly derived from the wolf side of Garou nature (such as “The First Share of the Kill for the Greatest in Station”).

Appearance: Pure Bred Talons tend to be large wolves with unusually sharp claw and ruddy brown fur. Regardless of Pure Breed, every Red Talon bears a shock of blood- or flame-red fur somewhere on his or her body. They rarely take Homid form, but when they do they are usually ill-groomed, stormy-eyed humans with a predatory glare and a certain awkwardness that stems from their unfamiliar balance and comparatively limited senses.Character Creation: There are no homid Red Talons. Red Talons favor physical Traits and high Perception; they naturally favor Abilities such as Survival, Brawl, Primal-Urge, Animal Ken, and Intimidate. Allies and Contacts are discouraged Backgrounds for Red Talons; Resources is restricted. Their only Kinfolk are wolves.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Beast Speech, Eye of the Hunter, Hidden Killer, Scent of Running Water, Wolf at the Door.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: Every problem you complain about is a problem invented by apes. If you were wiser you would see your enemy is not man, but human.Bone Gnawers: You crawl on your belly and lick the humans’ feet. Have you not seen how they beat and chain their dogs?Children of Gaia: What you call “peace” is just long, slow surrender. You have been giving up for so long you don’t even realize you’re doing it any more.Fianna: They remember much of how the world was, and how it could be again. But without action, all their howls are hollow.Get of Fenris: They understand what it is to have enemies beyond counting. And they understand why we were given Rage.Glass Walkers: Look at them! They are the future? Fear a world where all the Garou have given up the wolf and crawled into a metal web to wait for the end!Shadow Lords: A strong leader takes what is rightfully his, and commands respect. Why would you play your snake-tongue games if not to hide that you are not strong?Silent Striders: Without packs, without territories, a wolf runs mad.Silver Fangs: The leader that turns on her own pack must be driven out for the good of the rest.Stargazers: Why do you close your ears and call it listening? The wolf in you will tell you what you need to know, if you do not reject it.Uktena: Caching is for food you will need later, not for fetishes and spirits you should never have picked up in the first place.Wendigo: They understand us the most, I think. They grow more like us every moon.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

The Dying Cubs: A secret society with rituals that allow them to “feed” the Earth with a human’s pain, the Dying Cubs sacrifice human victims through elaborate torture methods. The longer they draw out their unfortunate victim’s death, the more sustenance they feel Gaia draws from their work. While some pursue their goals solely to heal the wounds that humanity has dealt to Mother Earth, others take sadistic pleasure in their practices, seeking out any opportunity to make bloody and horrific sacrifices in Her name.

The Lodge of the Predator Kings: The Lodge is made up of Red Talons who want to see every human being on the planet dead — no compromise, no homid Kinfolk. All the humans gone. The only way for Gaia to have a chance to heal, they believe, is to remove the creatures that continually injure Her. They do not care that their beliefs are not popular with the rest of the Nation, or that their actions may bring more hunters down upon the Garou. They are beyond caring about consequences, because they know they are going to lose. They realize how hopeless their fight is, and that makes them desperate — and extremely dangerous.

Warders of the Land: Not a true camp, the Warders of the Land is the de facto designation for Talons who don’t fall to one of the other three extremes. As close to moderates as the Red Talons get, Warders won’t hesitate to kill a human if necessary, but don’t believe in wholesale slaughter. Some feel that if there weren’t so many humans they’d be a tolerable nuisance rather than the overt threat they now pose. Others would like to see humanity gone, but don’t feel the Garou have the tools to achieve it, so they seek other options. This “camp” comprises the majority of Talons in the Nation.

Whelp's Compromise: No Talon ever identifies himself as being a member of Whelp’s Compromise — they consider the title as insulting as it sounds. Other tribes call this camp the “Anti-Extinction Faction.” It’s usually painted as “Talons who don’t want to kill all the humans,” but there’s more to it than that. Whelps find some value in some humans — a view that, while ambiguous, is enough to earn them a throating from the rest of the tribe.

Shadow Lords

"Of course I have a plan.Someone needs to do the thinking around here.Now are you interested in winning this fight,or were you looking forward to a glorious face-first charge into a wall of silver bullets?"

The strong dominate; the weak submit. This is the core of Shadow Lord philosophy. Intensely political and coldly pragmatic, the Shadow Lords practice a rigid internal hierarchy and promote an equally unforgiving value system for the Garou Nation. Their very presence is divisive. Other tribes view their manipulative tactics as a reason to distrust the Lords, or complain that anyone so ruthless is marked for eventual corruption. Some would argue that they should be cast out of the Nation entirely — but the Shadow Lords are far too valuable. Their methods are often dishonorable and sometimes cruel, but they get results. Life among the Lords is one part oppressive and one part inspirational. Cubs are taught to fear their elders as much as revere them. But the tribe is also a meritocracy — those who have the ambition and skill to succeed will go farther than those who rely on a misguided sense of entitlement. The lupus of the tribe usually start by mastering this instinctive dominance before they begin to hone their more humanlike capacity for deception and politics. Metis begin with the deck stacked against them — but are in a unique position to begin learning the tribe’s manipulative tricks almost as soon as they can talk. The Shadow Lords’ tribal strength is that they produce very strong, cunning champions; their elders and leaders have earned their position by constantly honing themselves. Their tribal weakness is that every Shadow Lord contends against his brethren. Those below you covet your position; those above you don’t want you coveting theirs. Their constant struggles for dominance have dealt them more than one setback in their ongoing quest for power.

Appearance: Shadow Lords with high Pure Breed often lean toward the saturnine in all forms. In Lupus form, they are notably thick and stocky, with the dark coats that reflect their tribal name.Character Creation: Shadow Lords believe in being wellrounded, though they’re particularly prone to stress Mental Attributes and Manipulation. They favor a wide variety of Abilities, particularly those dealing with guile and persuasion. Allies and Mentor are discouraged Backgrounds; Shadow Lords generally prefer to hold associates at arm’s length.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Aura of Confidence, Fatal Flaw, Seizing the Edge, Shadow Weaving, Whisper Catching.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: There’s more to them than just the righteous anger they broadcast. They have many irons in the fire; play to each one.Bone Gnawers: Impressively clever. Dangerously underrated. Considerably useful.Children of Gaia: Their aggression’s difficult to make use of, and they’re very sensitive about it. Still, don’t underestimate the utility of a tribe that understands the necessity of cooperation.Fianna: They’ll argue with any plan just for the love of argument. Let the dispute run its course, let them think they’ve won, and then get them moving against the target.Get of Fenris: Handle them properly, and they’re a vital part of any battle plan. Make a mistake in handling them… actually, let me just say don’t make a mistake in handling them.Glass Walkers: Sensible fellows who understand they don’t have many friends in the Nation, particularly pragmatic ones.Red Talons: Tricky to persuade and more clever than you’d expect, but fine hunters and warriors as long as you allow for a little… collateral damage.Silent Striders: They see and hear more than you’d want them to. Account for that.Silver Fangs: There will come a point where the fall of the Silver Fangs will do more to unify the tribes than their presence does. Wait.Stargazers: How do you deal with someone who claims to want nothing? Frustrating. At least they keep their distance when uninvited.Uktena: Pragmatic. Can be reasoned with. But they trust in their spirit cohorts more than in their fellow Garou, and those spirits of theirs are damnably enigmatic.Wendigo: They remember a great many poor bargains and bad deals. The prudent method is to offer them nothing you can’t afford to deliver.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

The Masks: A secret society devoted to instilling fear in their enemies, the Masks’ dedication to their dark arts is so fanatic that they purportedly practice ritualized mutilation upon themselves to inspire greater horror in their victims. Since the unknown is the playground of fear, no true Mask ever reveals their membership in the camp to outsiders, save for those who are targeted for indoctrination into their numbers. Leadership within the tribe consistently claims to have stamped the Masks out of existence. Whether this is accurate or not remains to be seen, but Shadow Lord Galliards still sing many of their tales as a warning to others.

Bringers of Light: The Bringers of Light seek inner strength by continually testing themselves against the taint around them. Time and time again, they seek out the temptation of the Wyrm, interacting with vampires, Black Spiral Dancers, fomori, and other Wyrmfolk. Although many have fallen while trying to embrace this camp’s tenets, the Bringers believe that the strongest (and truly worthy) do not succumb to the darkness; they overcome it.

Children of Crow: Not all power is gained through personal aggrandizement. Children of Crow know this, and by forgoing the call of individual ambition for the sake of political expediency, they gain power by serving those more powerful than themselves. Such servants will never attain positions of personal authority. They sacrifice chances to gain power for themselves in order to serve the tribe by catching details in their environment and uncovering secrets buried in the hearts and minds of others. They use this information not only to destroy enemies of the Garou and fight the Wyrm, but to build a foundation upon which those of other Shadow Lord camps may build their towers of power.

Judges of Doom: The Judges of Doom strike fear deep into the heart of the Garou Nation by seeking out and destroying Garou who flagrantly violate the tenets of the Litany. They pursue their agenda with ruthless zeal. Pitiless and remorseless, they show no mercy as they hunt down and destroy Garou — even entire septs — who have allowed a caern to be violated or committed some other wholesale violation of the Nation’s laws. No Litany-breakers are immune to their scrutiny and justice.

Lords of the Summit: A Lord of the Summit will do anything to achieve power, and once he achieves it, will not sacrifice it for any reason. Invoking the Litany, Lords with authority state that since the Apocalypse is at hand, there is no longer any illusion of peace under which their rulership may be honorably challenged. These Lords hold many leadership positions within the tribe (and the Nation), where their continuous states of “martial law” promote and preserve their tyranny.

Revolutionary Guard: This secret Shadow Lord camp consists mostly of highpowered Philodox and their Ahroun allies from around the world. They meet in secret at each Shadow Lord Grand Moot to plot the usurpation of the Silver Fangs’ rulership of the Garou Nation. The Guard command great military power, and have strong internal coordination. Though they hatch their plots in secret and carry out their actions without coordination from within the Shadow Lord hierarchy, they operate with the tacit blessing of the highest levels of tribal authority. Many high-ranking Shadow Lords aspire to join the Revolutionary Guard, and being tapped for membership is considered a tremendous honor.

Society of Nidhogg: All Storm Lords understand the power of darkness, but none so deeply as the members of this secretive, mystic camp. So strong is their fanaticism that they claim that sunlight itself is a threat to the forces of Thunder, and seek to plunge the world into eternal darkness (the better to carry out their tribe’s rise to power unfettered by Helios’ unyielding rays). The official tribal word on this camp is that it has been eradicated due to possible associations with vampires and other creatures of the Wyrm; some believe, however, that they have merely slipped back into their beloved darkness to regroup.

"Trust me, I’ve seen things you don’t want to know about.This, though — this you need to know."

Restless and haunted, the Silent Striders roam from caern to caern, always searching, always listening. They are messengers and advance scouts for the Garou Nation, rooting out things hidden to the other tribes and bringing word to the locals. Even in the modern days of electronic communication, the Striders prove themselves vital by bringing swift word of threats better spoken of face-to-face. They have a reputation for being taciturn and aloof, which lends extra weight to their words. When a Silent Strider has something to say, it’s often dangerous news. The Silent Striders had their origins in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Egypt, but lore has it that they were exiled long ago. The tales have it that they were cursed by an ancient evil — a Wyrm-thing, an ancient vampire, perhaps both — a malignant force they called Sutekh. Now no Strider can rest within the boundaries of their ancient Egyptian homeland — and no ancestor-spirit of theirs can be found. Driven from their homelands, haunted by the spirits of the dead, severed from their ancestor-spirits and fated to wander until the end of days, the Silent Striders bear an immense burden on their shoulders. They have not rejected this burden — they still serve the Garou Nation, and take it upon themselves to aid the ghosts that pursue them — but any vampire that crosses their path runs the risk of feeling millennia’s worth of vengeance. The tribe’s grim reputation earns them a mixed reception from the rest of the Garou Nation. It’s technically expected to offer hospitality to a Silent Strider, and wise leaders understand that any wandering follower of Owl may have critical information for them. But at the same time, Garou find it difficult to trust wolves that often don’t run in packs, and that defend no territory of their own. The curse on the tribe also concerns other werewolves, who have every reason to believe in such things. If the Striders are always on the move to keep two steps ahead of disaster, then will disaster come and visit wherever they rest? Most septs welcome the Silent Striders out of pragmatism, but it’s rare that the wanderers ever feel fully accepted.

Appearance: No matter where they were born, Silent Striders are almost universally lean and fit from constant travel. Those with high Pure Breed have long, lean wolf forms that resemble the jackals of ancient Egyptian art, and Crinos forms reminiscent of the Egyptian deity Anubis. Sleek black coats and yellow eyes are also a mark of high Strider Pure Breed.Character Creation: Silent Striders tend to be lean and hardy rather than thick and bulky. They pick up a wide variety of Abilities in their travels. Resources is a discouraged Background; Ancestors is restricted, thanks to the Curse of Sutekh.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Heaven’s Guidance, Sense Wyrm, Silence, Speed of Thought, Visions of Duat.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: Brave and committed women, but they still miss things when they let anger cloud their vision.Bone Gnawers: Generous hosts with what they have, such as it is.Children of Gaia: Good folks, but could stand to listen more and talk less.Fianna: They know more than most, and they’re more willing to share their stories than any.Get of Fenris: They’re always there for you when you need them. Just kind of difficult to deal with when you don’t.Glass Walkers: They know the Scabs almost as well as the Gnawers do, and can find out anything a human knows. Don’t understand us much, but we don’t need them to.Red Talons: Bad time to be isolationist, cousins.Shadow Lords: They can’t help treating you like you’re hiding something from them.Silver Fangs: The world is widening and their vision is narrowing. Not a good combination.Stargazers: They understand the immensity of the world and the reality of the ground under your two feet. Just not as good with the people living in between.Uktena: Like us, they don’t talk about half of what they know. Not sure I like the reasons.Wendigo: Some noble souls lie under all that bloody ice.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

The Bitter Hex: Members of the Bitter Hex wield one of the most controversial and dangerous tools known to the tribe:the curse. While members keep their association with the camp secret, the camp as a whole makes no bones about its existence. They want the rest of the world to know that their tribe has suffered enough, and the Hex has plenty of mojo to avenge any wrong, no matter how slight, against the Striders and their Kin.

The Dispossessed: Since the day the Striders were banished from their home, the Dispossessed have sought a new one for them; unfortunately, they cannot agree on where that new homeland should be. They’ve tried to establish replacements for Khem several times over the past thousand years, but each one has (thus far) been a dismal failure. Dispossessed are mostly homid; wolf-born rarely understand the camp’s obsession with one patch of land over any other.

Harbingers: Part of the Seekers until the tribe was driven from Khem, the Harbingers carry warnings of danger to those wise enough to listen. Wielding the twin swords of prophecy and fortune telling, Harbingers seek new ways of interpreting old warnings. Harbingers are renowned as some of the tribe’s most lethal warriors, venturing where others fear to tread in order to reap — and deliver — their deadly messages.

Eaters of the Dead: Consume the brain of your enemy and learn all of his secrets: a vile but useful ritual. Unfortunately, the burden borne by those who practice such rites is often heavier than the knowledge they gain. All who consume the flesh of others slowly go insane and reek of the Wyrm’s stench. Some even develop an addiction to fresh brains, and will kill innocent and guilty alike in order to feast. Other Striders seek out and destroy those suspected of being Eaters of the Dead. These efforts have driven the remnants of the camp underground where they are rumored to practice their profane rite amongst the shadows.

Seekers: Originally travelers who quested for odd scraps of spirit lore, unique fetishes, or news of foreign lands, in the days since the Striders were driven from Egypt, the Seekers have dedicated themselves to finding a way to break the tribal curse. They are some of the cleverest, best informed, and most knowledgeable members of the tribe; they gather lore like misers gather gold.

Swords of Night: Striders hate the undead, but none more fervently than the Swords of Night. This camp, spawned long ago as the Daggers of Nut, want nothing more than the impossible: to destroy every Leech who mars the face of Gaia with their unclean presence. While many Garou respect their fervor, they sometimes stir up problems for septs that have resigned themselves to an impasse with the vampires in their area; wary peace is an unacceptable compromise to the Swords. All Leeches must die.

Wayfarers: Loyal to Gaia, to the tribe, and the Garou Nation, Wayfarers ply their mercenary trade as a way of compensating for the curse that drove them from their homeland. Unable to build the support structure that possessing multiple caerns and established flocks of Kinfolk can allow, they barter their skills on the battlefield (and beyond) with those whose are not so hampered. In doing so, they not only enrich the Striders with the resources they claim, but with the ties they build to other tribes as well.

Silver Fangs

"I ask nothing of you that you should not want to give for Gaia.Stand with me and She may yet be saved!"

The Silver Fangs are first among the tribes, as they are quick to point out. Descendants of great heroes and monarchs, every one, the tribe of Falcon claims the role of leadership of the Garou Nation. They trace their bloodline back to the Progenitor Wolf, a genealogy of the noblest human blood and the finest wolf ancestors. Through the ages, they have been at the forefront of the war, the proudest and most magnificent Garou — and to hear the Silver Fangs tell it, that is still true. Other tribes have their doubts, though. Some charge that the Silver Fang’s obsession with pure blood has brought them to inbreeding, and their once-clear minds have grown feeble and clouded through the generations. Weak kings demand respect for the deeds of their ancestors, not their own. Mad leaders care more for the details of their courtly traditions than for the war against the Wyrm. Far too many fall to Harano for them to be a healthy tribe. Both viewpoints have some truth to them. The Silver Fangs do indeed descend from great heroes, and they have also suffered from their preference for aristocratic Kinfolk over healthy and intelligent Kin. Many are as bad as their critics claim, but some still shine with the light of old heroism. In some ways, they are exactly the exemplars of the Garou they claim to be — the strengths and the afflictions of the Garou Nation are reflected in the story of the Silver Fangs.

Appearance: Silver Fangs are of aristocratic human stock, and tend to have strong family resemblances within their bloodlines. Their wolf forms have clean silver or white coats, long jaws and full tail brushes. They are fond of jewelry and ornately worked equipment as a sign of their status.Character Creation: Silver Fangs stress the necessity of leadership, and consequently they are prone to have strong Social Attributes and corresponding Abilities. Many Silver Fang characters spend freebie points on extra Backgrounds to represent inherited resources and connections; all must spend at least three Background points on Pure Breed to qualify for the tribe.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Eye of the Falcon, Falcon’s Grasp, Inspiration, Lambent Flame, Sense Wyrm.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: We are fortunate their vow to never bend knee to a man is not a rejection of the Garou Nation’s hierarchy. But is it only a matter of time?Bone Gnawers: We must bear their share of the burden, as they seem to care so little for humble service in the Nation’s name.Children of Gaia: They share our dislike of dissension, although they tend to forgive rogues and rebels too easily.Fianna: Their loyalty is much appreciated, even if their etiquette is…variable.Get of Fenris: Loyal and honorable vassals when they acknowledge your position — dangerous savages when they claim to perceive some weakness in you.Glass Walkers: Clever, but they could use some more respect for the old ways.Red Talons: Remember that they honor hierarchy, even if they seem to have nothing but contempt for civilized courtesy.Shadow Lords: They covet a throne, but do not command the respect necessary to hold it. Perhaps they should direct more energy against the true enemy.Silent Striders: Valuable but not forthright. They speak only when it’s important, yet seemingly also only when the news is bad.Stargazers: Their counsel is wise, but they lack focus on the here and now. Thankfully, we can provide focus.Uktena: They offer valuable aid, but I suspect they hide disrespect behind their courtesy. They went too long without a king.Wendigo: Your grievances are valid, but we need your strength and your loyalty now.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps, Lodges, and Houses:

Spoiler for Lodges:

Serving as an official declaration of focus and intent,every Silver Fang is expected to choose one of the two Lodgessoon after their First Change. Some delay this decision andothers refuse to ever make it, but such a refusal hamperstheir progress in the rank and tribal positions. If they cannotprove their commitment to the principles espoused bya Lodge, they cannot be trusted with the commitments ofan important sept post or a responsible role in the tribe.

Lodge of the Moon: The first Fang Lodge, created to win back the love of Luna and gain her forgiveness for the tribe’s allegiance to Helios, the Lodge of the Moon still focuses predominantly on the esoteric: spiritual and mystical matters, emotions, and the morale of its king’s subjects. Insight and intuition are the tools of Luna’s Lodge, and while most of its members are homid, the majority of the tribe’s lupus make their loyalties to the Lodge of the Moon.

Lodge of the Sun: Created in response to the formation of the Lodge of the Moon, the Lodge of the Sun concerns itself with the material world: history and current affairs, inter-sept and inter-tribal relations, tracking the movements of the Enemy, and the like. Its methods are order and reason, and the lodge is dominated by homids.

Spoiler for Houses:

Of the thirteen tribal Houses that once existed, onlyseven remain: Seven Silver Fang leaders guiding thedestiny of the tribe from around the globe; seven SilverFang families, each with their own perspective on howthe tribe — and the Nation — should be run.

House Austere Howl (Great Britain): Austere Howl has recently been savaged by allegations of corruption and Wyrm-taint through sacrificial Hellfire Club rituals amongst their Kinfolk. Their Queen has disappeared and the House scrambles to try to redeem itself.

The Blood-Red Crest (Asia and India): For thousands of years, The Blood-Red Crest was the tribe’s only successful foothold in the East. Now, plagued by infertility, The Blood-Red Crest teeters on the edge of wholesale Harano.

Clan Crescent Moon (Russia): Preferring to refer to themselves as a Clan rather than a House, Crescent Moon relies on codes set by their history and ancient tradition more than most do, which has led to both their downfall and their rebirth.

House Gleaming Eye (Northern Europe): Calculating, ruthless, and more than a little mad, House Gleaming Eye watches the rest of the tribe (and the Nation) with a vigilant gaze. Their inquisitors seek to root out any Wyrm-taint within the tribe before it can become an epidemic.

House Unbreakable Hearth (Canada and American Midwest): Priding itself on its role as an inter-tribal facilitator, Unbreakable Hearth has done little recently to quell the conflicts raging across North America, instead turning insular after an unknown foe destroyed several of its main caerns.

House Wise Heart (Mediterranean and Middle East): Long considered to be a bastion of wisdom within the tribe, Wise Heart has begun hoarding their secrets even more closely of late, leading some to suspect they may be dabbling in knowledge Garou were not meant to know.

House Wyrmfoe (American Northeast): The most modern tribal House, Wyrmfoe is known for its mavericks: its bold and individualistic kings. They rely more on their own instinct and wits than on tradition.

Spoiler for Camps:

Grey Raptors: A society of Silver Fangs who strive to punish those who insult or ignore their tribe’s ancient right to rule, the Grey Raptors keep their identities secret, but their actions are overt. Terror and torture are their bread and butter in their attempt to enforce ancient oaths of fealty that few Garou outside of the Fangs remember or recognize.

Ivory Priesthood: When the First Wolf died to save Gaia, it learned the “Secret of Death.” The Ivory Priesthood is a secret society of Fang Theurges who, after undergoing a series of spiritual trials and tests, begin learning these same secrets about what lies beyond the shroud of Death.

Masters of the Seal: No Child of Falcon would ever admit to being a member of this camp and to accuse one of it would result in a demand for honorable challenge. The reason is simple: Masters of the Seal are thieves one and all, stealing secrets from the spirits and from other tribes. While they keep their identities secret, they divulge what they’ve learned to others in the tribe who can use the information to best promote the Fangs’ communal interest.

Renewal: There are rivals to the power of the Silver Fangs even within the halls of the white wolves. The secret society called Renewal dares to dissent from tribal orthodoxy and seeks to replace the old, inbred, senile leaders with fresh and sane ones. They don’t want the Silver Fangs as a tribe to relinquish power over the other tribes, since they think this will spell doom for the Garou Nation. They merely believe that change from within must happen. They have recently made overtures to the Stargazer group called the Inner Path, and are exploring ways the two groups can work together.

Spoiler for Philosophical Divisions:

Not truly Lodge, nor House, nor camp, these philosophical parties form yet another fault along which the Silver Fangs divide themselves. Not all Fangs belong to one mind-set or the other, and not everyone who believes in line with one of the parties self-identifies as a Renewalist or a Royalist, but the division is significant enough to warrant mention.

Renewalists: Sometimes confused with the clandestine usurpers who call themselves “Renewal,” the Renewalists seek to “fix” what they believe to be a problem in the tribe: excessive adherence to ceremony and tradition in the face of urgent need for new solutions to modern problems. Some urge kings to rely not on past wisdom, but on present intelligence. Others call for a spiritual reinvigoration, a return to times when ancient kings would consult the local spirit leaders before taking any action that would affect the area.

Royalists: Royalists look to the past to answer questions of the present; they believe that the Fangs’ ancient traditions provide an answer for any situation — if followed correctly. They abjure modern changes or adaptations to the tribe’s way of doing things, clinging to the past with fanatical devotion.

Stargazers

"Rage is a heavy snake that coils around you and sinks its poison into your heart.You must recognize the burden on your back if you are to have any hope of standing up straight."

Few fully understand the Stargazers. They are the smallest tribe in the Garou Nation, in large part because they follow a creed that seems to fly in the face of what it means to be Garou. They pursue meditation, philosophy, lucid dreaming — all manner of ways to master their inner selves, to master their Rage. Caught between wolf and human, Rage and Gnosis, material and spirit, the Stargazers seek the very key to Garou existence: balance. Balance, or the Middle Way, is essential to the tribal creed. Many of the Stargazers’ practices have their roots in human philosophy, but the tribe deliberately works to align these with mystic states of mind learned from their wolf souls. Their ultimate goal is an understanding that surpasses Rage — enlightenment that speaks to the heart of the homid, the lupus and the metis with equal strength. The Stargazers spread into Asia following the end of the Impergium, and although they have never had the numbers to be truly strong in any given place, the lands surrounding the Himalayas have always been their spiritual heart. They have made less of a name for themselves as warriors over the millennia, largely because their perpetual search for a better way than Rage has kept them from participating in many of the territorial struggles common to the other tribes. Some actively (and incorrectly) disdain them as navel-gazers and pacifists. But the Stargazers still fight against the Wyrm, on the physical plane as well as within.

Appearance: Stargazers with strong Pure Breed run toward leaner, lighter builds in their wolf forms. Their coats come in a variety of grays and a few blacks, with a faint striping or brindling in some individuals.Character Creation: Stargazers encourage the development of Mental Attributes. The Mentor Background is common. The tribe’s asceticism means that Stargazers with Fetish or Resources are rare; they also avoid the emotional bonds of Allies when they can.Initial Willpower: 4.Beginning Gifts: Balance, Channeling, Falling Touch, Iron Resolve, Sense Wyrm.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: Their creed seems simple, but it embraces so much: sisterhood, motherhood, vengeance, mysticism, the Wyld. They have great depths beneath their Rage.Bone Gnawers: There are many beggars who gave up everything, owned nothing, and gained everything. The Bone Gnawers are in a place to understand — are they simply playing the fool?Children of Gaia: They’re good people. I respect their wisdom in attempting to transcend Rage, even though it’s married to a profound attachment to the world.Fianna: Vivid dreamers, but they love their emotions far too much to ever master them.Get of Fenris: They would seem to be everything we are trying to overcome. But they have surprising clarity, in their own blood-smeared way.Glass Walkers: The ability to see the Now so clearly is admirable. Can you see anything else?Red Talons: None compare to their wolf instinct, but that instinct is drowned in hatred that only humans can match.Shadow Lords: They define themselves by wants, not needs. It opens their hearts to the wrong visitors.Silent Striders: Their fate is frightening. They have given up so much, and yet they cannot escape the ghosts that follow them.Silver Fangs: Bloodlines, temporal power — they have been rooted in the material forever. Look on them and learn.Uktena: They carry burdens no one should be made to bear. I hope their wisdom and resolve is as strong as it seems.Wendigo: Be water, not ice.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Ana-gamin: Known as the “Non-Returners,” some believe the Ana-gamin to be nothing but a legend. Depending on which story is told, they either accept or kidnap tribal members that they feel are worthy to accompany them on their journeys through the Umbra. They seek to release themselves from the fetters of reality, and believe that soon, all Stargazers will go to the Umbra, free of their mortal chains, and never return to earth.

The Heavenly Successors of the Demon-Eater: Labeled an Apocalypse cult by many, the Successors dedicate themselves to defeating and destroy the demons who drink Gaia’s soul like hungry tumors —that is, vampires and other undead. While not in battle with their demons, members of this camp are often indistinguishable from other Stargazers. But when faced with their enemy, they don green robes in homage to Zhong Kui, the first of their number, and attack with single-minded fanaticism.

The Inner Path: The Inner Path is a covert faction of Stargazers dedicated to taking over the Silver Fangs by mind control and shaping policy from within. They believe that someone must control the insane Garou leaders for the good of Gaia and the Nation as a whole. They are very secretive and operate without the knowledge of their tribal masters. The Inner Path has succeeded in winning converts within the Silver Fangs, most notably the Silver Fang secret society called Renewal.

Klaital Puk: Led by a reincarnation of Klaital, the first Stargazer, the Puk follow their mentor’s guidelines for cultivation of enlightenment. They feel that understanding from original wisdom is to be more valued than wisdom from a mind tainted by the modern world. Recently the camp has been devastated because the spirit of Klaital has not been reincarnated to lead them. Some believe this to be a sign that the last days of the Apocalypse are upon the Nation.

Ouroboroans: They seek to free the Wyrm of Balance from the Web. Instead of striving against the Weaver, they use their energies to seek out the Wyrm in all its forms in hopes of discovering the secret of freeing it. Only by following the Wyrm to its cave, rather than fighting its minions, do they feel they may truly influence the outcome of the Final War.

The Sacred Thread: Members of this camp feel that the Garou Nation’s werewolf-centric focus will be their undoing, and that only by fighting the Wyrm where it lives — in the hearts and minds of mankind — can the War be truly won. The Sacred Thread travel into the darkest hearts of human populations and act as instructors, counselors, and mentors for the people they find there, offering education of many kinds to help strengthen the human spirit.

Trance Runners: Sometimes mistaken for members of the Silent Strider tribe, this camp belongs to an ancient tradition. Lung-gompa — wind meditation — grants them physical prowess to fulfill their duties: transmitting messages, items, and secrets from caern to caern or court to court. Through meditation and other mystic practices, they are able to achieve near-weightlessness, allowing them to run across water, scale forbidding obstacles, and perform other feats of dexterity, speed, and endurance.

The Metastic Birth: These Stargazers believe that the Wyrm is not caged, but in is a cocoon undergoing metamorphosis, preparing for a new reality being birthed by the Weaver. Once it has finished its metamorphosis, it will burst from its chrysalis and usher in the new world. The Stargazers who follow this camp believe this is a good thing, and that the tribe should help others prepare for it, not fight it.

The World Tree: The World Tree seeks to spread enlightenment not just among the Garou but also to humans, mages, and the Changing Breeds. They also travel farther in the realms of spirit than most, having learned to send their minds into the Astral Umbra in search of lore while their bodies remain rooted to the earth.

The Zephyr: Members of the Zephyr travel among other Garou, joining packs and spreading their wisdom through example. Experience is their goal, for in its twisting fates they hope to gain visions unobtainable otherwise. Kai Lin is said to have been the first of this camp. Some say the Zephyr was originally formed around a dojo for the training of Kailindo. But like the wind spirits they commune with, they cannot stay put in one place for long and roam with the storms.

Uktena

"We were not given eyes, ears, and a mind so we could stay blind, deaf, and ignorant.You don’t like what you see —but that is exactly why we must look on it."

In the days before the Europeans reached the Americas, the Uktena acted as the wise Older Brother of the three tribes of Pure Ones. Where Wendigo focused on war and the hunt, and the Croatan were more sociable, the Uktena gathered mystical lore to themselves. They settled across the Americas, favoring more southern lands where the rivers they cherish were plentiful. When the arrival of the Europeans changed everything, and their Kin were much reduced in number, the Uktena chose to adapt. They began to interact with humans of many other cultures, favoring those who kept old animistic traditions or those who had suffered oppression much as the Pure Ones had. Many Uktena bear the blood of former slaves, or people driven from their lands, or immigrants who were shoved into filthy ghettos. But although the Uktena have learned new hope from their embrace of outside cultures (excepting, of course, the Europeans’), a river of dark bitterness still runs through their hearts. They ally with the rest of the tribes, but keep secrets to themselves. They haven’t forgotten any of the insults and injuries they’ve suffered. And they don’t trust nearly as much as they let on. They still use the word “Wyrmcomer” to describe the Europeans, even if they don’t do it to their cousins’ faces. When there’s a need to cooperate, they’ll do so — but if there’s an opportunity to discreetly settle a particularly painful vendetta, they may find it hard to resist.

Appearance: Uktena Pure Breed often manifests as reddish-black fur, and many have a distinct resemblance to red wolves. The tribe is a peculiar mishmash of Native American and various dispossessed ethnicities, and many members have a penchant for occult trinkets from a wide range of traditions.Character Creation: Uktena value high Mental Attributes, the better to perceive and master their many spiritual advantages. Occult is quite common among the tribe, and Uktena tend to learn rites and pick up fetishes whenever they can.Initial Willpower: 3.Beginning Gifts: Sense Magic, Sense Wyrm, Shroud, Spirit of the Lizard, Spirit Speech.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: They keep all manner of interesting old traditions that would no doubt be quite useful, if we could simply convince them to share. Bone Gnawers: Rat’s children know more than they pretend to. Not that much more, but enough.Children of Gaia: They’ve achieved some real power in healing and purification. They could probably achieve much more if they weren’t so… tentative about other arts.Fianna: We’ll look after our own lore, thank you. That way we know it’s in trusted hands.Get of Fenris: Fools who think if they are strong enough, they won’t have to bother to learn anything.Glass Walkers: A little too specialized to be healthy, but there’s no denying they know tricks we can only guess at.Red Talons: They can’t indulge their bloodlust all the time. When you catch them in their quiet moments, you can learn some interesting things.Shadow Lords: Nothing quite gets their attention and respect like reminding them you may know more than they do.Silent Striders: They must have seen so much in their wandering. I wish they’d share more of their experiences.Silver Fangs: Subtly remind them of the wrongs we’ve endured, and encourage them to be good kings. They may not be competent enough to manage it, but at least they won’t be malicious.Stargazers: I respect your insight, cousin, but do you really think that if you don’t pay any attention to the world, it won’t pay any attention to you?Wendigo: So angry, Younger Brother. If you were anyone else I would fear for you — but you remember the proper ways for now.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Bane Tenders: A dedicated group of powerful Medicine Workers, this camp demonstrates a fanatical devotion to keeping what’s left of the Pure Lands pure. Most have little time for being involved with a sept or pack; they spend all their time focused on their charges: the Great Banes bound into Umbral prisons by the Uktena who first came to the Pure Lands.

Earth Guides: The Earth Guides preserve the traditions of Native American — and now other — peoples, learning the dances and stories, arts and crafts, rituals, and beliefs of whatever human stock they come from, and making certain the old ways are not lost or forgotten. Their focus is not solely upon human traditions, however. Some dedicate themselves to learning and preserving the songs and ways of the wolf from the lupus-Kin, or even (when permitted) those of other of Gaia’s Changers.

Path Dancers: Probably the most secretive society of the Uktena, the Dancers supposedly practice magics unknown to other Garou, although their true secrets are revealed only to those deemed worthy to join their numbers.

Scouts: The Scouts have served the tribes as messengers and explorers since the Uktena came to the Pure Lands. In the past they acted as go-betweens for Umbral spirits and the shamans among their Kinfolk, appearing as “spirit-wolves” with otherworldly wisdom. Today, they act as messengers between the scattered septs of the tribe and keep contact with Uktena who have joined mixed septs, as well as visiting solitary Bane Tenders to help tend their needs and bring news of their vigils back to the rest of the tribe.Raiders (sub-faction): A splinter faction of the Scouts, the Raiders specialize in conducting raids against the minions of the Wyrm and Weaver in order to recover stores of magic which have fallen into the possession of Leeches, witches, and other Wyrm-kind.

Skywalkers: Skywalkers explore the Deep Umbra, combing the far reaches for spirit allies and for powerful spirits to bind into fetishes. Skywalkers see their travels across the Gauntlet as vision quests undertaken for understanding and for power to defeat the Wyrm. In addition, they search for signs of the spirits of their lost Croatan brothers.

Society of Bitter Frost: The Bitter Frost has given up on peaceful and cooperative measures. They want it all — the recovery of stolen Uktena caerns, powerful fetishes, knowledge, and power — even if that means using the Wyrm’s tools to augment their own, or slaying European Garou to reclaim Uktena items of power.

Web Walkers: Close allies with the Glass Walkers, Web Walkers revel in technology, but treat it as a servant rather than their master. Some seek understanding from their connection to the Weaver; others seek healing or a reconnection with city-dwelling kin who might otherwise be lost to the tribe.

Wyld Children: Uktena who forsake their tribe and packs to heed the call of the Wyld, members of this camp wander far into the most remote spots of the world, engaging in private vision quests and inner journeys in order to grow closer to Gaia. They rarely emerge from their secret places, but sometimes will attend a Great Council to deliver some obscure message or warning.

Wendigo

"Just because we have survived the treachery of your ancestors,that doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten or forgiven.Count yourself lucky there are greater enemies."

Besieged by the Wyrm and betrayed by their fellow tribes, the Wendigo have learned much about hatred over the centuries.The Europeans came to steal, murder, and conquer, and the tribes that came to the Americas with them were no better. Though the old wars over territory are now over, the Wendigo have forgotten little and forgiven less. Their anger is hot as blood on the snow; their hatred is cold and unyielding as glacial ice. The Wendigo are named for their totem, the cannibal spirit of winter that has taught them much of their cold fury. They emulate him in many ways. They hunt as quietly as a snowfall, swiftly falling on their prey with the force of the North Wind. But they also view winter as the symbol of their purity: Vision clear as ice, heart spotless as fresh snow. They believe the European werewolves were caressed by the Wyrm long ago, and its corruption still lies within them. With the Croatan gone and the Uktena desperate enough to lie with the newcomers and delve into secrets best left forgotten, the Wendigo claim they are the only truly Pure Ones left. Their rites and spiritual traditions reflect this concern with purity. The Wendigo meticulously attempt to expunge any trace of possible corruption from their rituals. Their moots are hidden well away from the eyes of any outsiders, and the Wendigo are not above killing even other Garou to defend their secrecy. Ritual purification is a common practice, particularly before or after hunting or going to war.

Appearance: The Wendigo are not as ethnically mixed as other tribes: they are almost exclusively born to native peoples of North America, particularly in the north. Wendigo with strong Pure Breed are clean-limbed, strong timber wolves that with coats in varying shades of gray.Character Creation: Wendigo are a hardy, warlike group; strong Physical Attributes are prominent among the tribe. They favor Abilities that are most useful for war and the hunt, and there are precious few Wendigo that don’t have at least a dot in Survival. Contacts and Resources are discouraged Backgrounds.Initial Willpower: 4.Beginning Gifts: Beat of the Heart-Drum, Call the Breeze, Camouflage, Ice Echo, Resist Pain.

Spoiler for Stereotypes:

Black Furies: There’s little justice in this world, is there? Only what you make with your hands.Bone Gnawers: They do what’s necessary to survive — understandable. But they have given up their pride, which is more than I am willing to do.Children of Gaia: Too little, too late.Fianna: They offer hospitality and assistance from within the caerns they took from us so long ago. Such loremasters should sing less of their glory and more of their shame.Get of Fenris: No loyalty and no honor. Respect for strength is not a virtue — it’s just fear.Glass Walkers: This is the world you wanted? Are you happy in it?Red Talons: Your anger is very like ours, cousins, but would you defend our Kin the way we defend yours?Shadow Lords: Be certain they understand that we reject their bargains, and we will defend what little we have left with fang and claw. These crows take only what’s easily gained.Silent Striders: Wise, sad strangers. They don’t turn on their neighbors to make up for what they’ve lost — I almost wish I could want to be like that. Silver Fangs: They failed us long ago, and they still fail us today. Stargazers: You can trust them. They want nothing of their own save understanding.Uktena: Older Brother is as desperate as we are now. His path is as crooked as his serpent totem, and I fear it’s taking him into places darker than Uktena’s den.

Spoiler for Tribal Camps:

Gluskap's Lodge: A curious camp, Gluskap’s Lodge works to teach the ways of the humans to the tribe, in order to allow them to better understand their human Kin and the rest of human society. Any breed — including metis — can join Gluskap’s Lodge, although the camp is led by homid Garou, the better to teach human ways.

Myeengun's Lodge: Counterpart to Gluskap’s Lodge, Myeengun’s Lodge serves to teach the tribe more about the way of the wolf. Like its brother-lodge, Myeengun’s welcomes any breed, but its leaders are always lupus Garou.

The Sacred Hoop: This camp walks amongst other tribes more than any other Wendigo group, and aids the tribe in working together with the Nation against their enemies. The Sacred Hoop speaks of beauty, youth, and brotherhood among all peoples, and strives to bring the Nation together despite the harsh lessons history has taught them.

The Secret Hoop: Dire times call for dire measures, and many Pure Ones are more than willing to risk triggering the End Times in order to have a chance at driving the Wyrmbringers out of the Pure Lands. The Secret Hoop are all that keep these warlike Pure Ones enthralled in their wary tensions with each other, which is the only thing (the camp believes) that keeps them from turning their full attention on eradicating the Wyrmbringers.

The Warpath: They may say otherwise, but the hearts of the members of the Warpath have been turned to vengeance, and they seek only to repay their sufferings with violence. They are fierce warriors who have done much to protect and benefit their tribe, but when their attention turns to other wolfchangers, they can do as much damage to their brethren as they are capable of bestowing upon the Wyrm.